There is an emerging consumer market for certain devices that are used as companion products to smartphone devices. Their popularity can be traced, in part, to the variety of features they provide to a user. For example, one such device is a wearable device, such as a ring worn on the user's finger, a necklace, glasses, or a “wristlet” (e.g., a watch or wristband) that is worn around a user's wrist. Typically, such wearable devices may provide different features, such as a logging function that monitors the user's motion and resting activities, and then sends a report on the detected motion and activities to the user's smartphone for storage in memory. Another feature allows the wearable devices to be used as a personal token to automatically gain access to a smartphone that has been locked. Particularly, a wearable device worn by the user may communicate with the user's smartphone, thereby permitting the user to bypass the manual entry of a predetermined unlock sequence associated with the smartphone.
Many people protect their portable devices with authentication data such as a 4-6 digit key, a password, or a graphical pattern, and it is generally seen as too short and too easy to break. Longer passwords are possible to use, however, many people consider it cumbersome to do the unlock procedure every time the portable device is used. Yet many people have no protection at all.
Password or authentication data is a proof of qualification, competence or clearance issued to an individual. Examples of authentication data include, certifications, security clearance, identification documents, badges, passwords, user names, keys, and so on. Authentication data in information technology systems, IT systems, are widely used to control access to information or other resources. The classic combination of a user account number or name and a secret password is widely used example of IT systems authentication data. An increasing number of IT systems use other forms of documentation of authentication data, such as biometric credential technologies. There are several examples of biometric credential technologies that could be used for this purpose such as fingerprints, face and voice recognition, iris recognition or retinal scans, and so on. It is basically up to the user to determine the level of security needed for that particular case.
A biometric method that is known is to use a fingerprint scanner, which can be used to gain access or to unlock a smartphone that has been locked. The procedure of scanning is however associated with having to initiate the scanning through entering a menu setting which can be cumbersome. It is also a known fact that fingerprint scanning tools can be spoofed and therefore not completely secure. The security level of fingerprint scanning as the sole means for phone access has also been demonstrated not to be 100% proof.
Hence, the security level on the identification means of today does not fulfill all requirements.